Renascence
by ScruffySock
Summary: AU: middle of the second OVA. Yumemi has an accident, giving her a new perspective. With her new insight, she will have to save some people, destroy others, and for that to happen no one must know she's the girl of Destiny. Yumemi/Munto centric.
1. Prologue

_**Renascence**_

** O**

_Erring Steps_

** O**

It was near the end of winter, the cold gingerly giving in to the spring's stubborn warmth. The sky was cloudy around this time though, but that didn't stop Yumemi from looking up.

She used to carry around a pink parasol so she wouldn't have to look up and see the floating island, but now that she'd met to and talked to Munto, it wasn't frightening anymore. She could tell Ichiko was glad that she wasn't carrying the umbrella anymore, but recently her head had been in the clouds more than usual.

Staring up into the sky, muffling out Suzume's chit chat, she stared at the diamond in the sky, a darker blue figment against the cerulean surroundings. How was Munto doing? What was happening? She could feel it, in the corners of her eyes, flashing behind her sockets and sending little waves of electricity to her feet. Something was still wrong in the magical kingdom, but what?

"Yumemi!"

She suddenly looked around to her friends, and Ichiko had her hands planted on her hips, giving her a pointed look. Yumemi shrugged helplessly; she'd once again been caught off-guard. However, her friend only sighed and dragged her back to the conversation.

"Anyway, how'd you think you did on your finals? I know I must have bombed math."

In all of her thinking, Yumemi almost forgot that she experienced finals last week. It seemed so unimportant in comparison to what might be happening in the magical world, but it wasn't as if she could go check and see.

No, it was better to stay focused on her world. If Munto needed help, he would come to her.

Still…

Yumemi looked back up into the sky, sighing. "I think I did alright on my finals," she answered softly, as all her speech was soft. Ichiko grinned a little, swatting the nearby crosswalk switch, waiting for traffic to slow.

She wished she could have at least talked to Munto after she saved their worlds. It finally felt _right_ for once, as if she had been given a reason for all of her insane suffering in her short life-span. It felt like she was finally making a difference, even if it wasn't in her own world.

Underneath her, the ground shook, trembling. Automatically, Ichiko grabbed onto Yumemi's arm and leaned against the nearby crosswalk pole. "Another earthquake?"

The ground shuddered under their feet once more, before ceasing. They all let out a breath that hadn't realized they'd been holding, surveying the area. Across white paint, the crosswalk symbol flashed. It seemed safer once more.

They started walking, Yumemi still keeping up with her friends. Her eyes still wandered over to the island in the sky though; it was her only connection she had with Munto in any way, except for the odd feelings she would get sometimes with the earthquakes.

Without warning, the ground rumbled again, quaking under Yumemi's feet. She was suddenly thrown off balance, flinging backwards.

"Yumemi!" Ichiko cried out, her face contorting in dread.

Time seemed to slow down, as though every second was holding its breath. As Yumemi plummeted off her feet, a passing car veered off track from the sudden tectonic tremblings. She could see the driver, a woman with her hair pulled back, trying to swerve out of the way, panic painted across her features. The car was blue, it's front metallic and shiny. Yumemi's hair was tangling around her face, her feet scrambling underneath her, as she was slammed by the car. She _heard_ something pop under her skin, and _felt_ pieces inside of her shift and crack.

Her body swung downwards, her face toward the sky. She saw the island, a dark blue blotch in the sky, never moving.

Pain shot through Yumemi's head as she slammed into the asphalt, and everything went black.

** O**

The first thing Yumemi was aware of was siren's, loud and obnoxious, like when they would pass by her window at night, leaving her shivering and wondering who was hurt.

Nothing hurt though, so it wasn't herself that was damaged. Who was it then?

Memories edged back into her brain as she recalled the last few minutes. There was an earthquake, and she fell to her feet. She was hit by a passing car. Was the ambulance for the driver, then? She might've gotten hurt, but Yumemi barely felt anything, just an ethereal warm feeling all around her, wafting in and out of her like an internal heater.

Opening her eyes, they felt heavy like she had never opened them before, her eyes adjusted. She was staring at someone, right in front of her. The girl had her eyes shut, and blood dribbling from her nose and mouth, drenching down her forehead. The beginnings of a bruise were forming along her nose, but an oxygen mask secured tightly over her face made it hard to see where it ended. The girl was a mess, yes, chunks of her hair drenched in blood, her school uniform ruined in it, but that was not alarming part.

Yumemi was looking at herself.

She heard Ichiko crying out, but scarcely heard a thing other than the roaring in her ears as she watched Medic's desperately fight to keep her revived body alive.

** O**

Munto hesitated slightly, dragging his attention from the battle, cocking his head as though he heard a whisper just behind his neck, a flash of light beyond his field of vision.

Rui, one of his closest friends and best general, glanced at him with a worried expression. "King Munto?" He asked aloud, concerned.

He shook his head, his crimson mane of hair wafting with the movement. "Nothing, Rui," he responded in a low voice. "It just felt like…" The snowy haired General waited patiently; sometimes it took time for Munto to organize his thoughts.

"It felt like somebody just got hurt, is all…"


	2. Double Vision

_**Renascence**_

** O**

_Double Vision_

** O**

Yumemi was, for lack of a better word, dismayed at this revelation.

Not only was she looking at herself as a seemingly dying body on the side of the road, but she fully comprehended the situation. She was _watching_ herself die. Did this happen to everybody that died? Did they have to watch themselves slowly drain of life?

What happened afterwards?

Obviously no one could see her, or else they would have made a very large commotion. In whatever spiritual form or soul-like state she was in, she looked naked. To her astonishment, it seemed as if she had no defining features about herself in the essence-shape she was in. Maybe she didn't even have a face, considering the rest of her illuminating body blurred together.

"_Clear!_"

She wasn't even aware of people talking until that moment. EMT's were keeping her body alive, but she could see her blood running down the sidewalks and into the gutters. There were lacerations along her face and shoulders she didn't notice before, where glass shattered against the top half of her body. A shard was stuck into her side, gleaming silver and ruby in the sunlight. She was bleeding from the back of her head, where it slammed into the asphalt when she fell.

It seemed so unreal, that Yumemi idly wondered if she was dreaming. She honestly could have been.

Then she heard Ichiko call out again, her voice hoarse and heartbroken. Yumemi turned around, and her hair followed her, as if she was underwater.

"Yumemi-! Get your hands off me! _Yumemi_!" Ichiko had blood up to her elbows, a pool of it soaked into her skirt. Yumemi could only speculate as to how long she sat there with her body, calling for somebody to help. The brunette was currently being held back by two police officers, with whom he was fighting tooth and nail to get past.

Suzume was simply sitting on the sidewalk behind her, looking at Yumemi as the Medics strapped her to a medical flat, rolling her into the ambulance. Yumemi found that she could walk in this form, although the ground felt a little bit like stepping on cotton, and she slipped into the car with no trouble. She tried to sit, but found that everything she touched felt warm and odd, like someone had just layered everything in warm, damp tissue.

Looking at herself, bruised and bleeding, she realized something she had not thought before.

She did not want to die.

She thought about taking her own life, once or twice when the island seemed too big and the unfriendly voices were too loud, but she hadn't really realized how much she wanted to stay alive until this moment. But what could she do? The Medics were trying their unsurpassed skills against her torn body.

_How ironic it is_, she thought unhappily _that I should see my worth after I'm dead._

But she wasn't dead, not yet at least. The monitor toned along with her faintly beating heart, and the medics were making sure it wouldn't stop. She wished she could make herself move in any way, but it seemed she was just a spirit, watching. _Waiting_.

The ambulance finally parked, and the medics rushed her out so fast she could scarcely keep up.

Yumemi couldn't quite grasp the concept of running while she was a ghost of her former self. It was more like an enthusiastic wobble, the sterile white chambers of the hospital a blur. They pulled her into a slate white room, where the surgeons gathered around her like a congressional meeting of doctors. She couldn't watch them operate on her; it was too sickening to see her own insides so mangled.

It was just was bad to see her family, faces strewn in horror, watching from the nearby window.

** O**

"Your daughter is alive. She should recover from her injuries." The doctor sounded reassuring, his voice stated these things as if they were fact.

Her mother sighted from relief, melting into her father's grasp.

"However, she got a pretty harsh blow to the head. She's in a kind of a coma at the moment. We don't know when she'll wake up." The relaxation immediately turned into tension, her mother and father glancing back and forth with gut wrenching worry in their eyes. "Consider your daughter lucky, Mr. and Mrs. Hidaka, your child could have gotten a serious spinal injury. We only had a few internal bleeding problems to deal with."

Yumemi, who was sitting beside her brother Chikara as he pretended to play on his videogame but was actually listening, shifted in her seat. Nothing moved when she sat on it, which made for an interesting experience. She sat up, stood and approached her mother.

She wanted to hold her and pat her on the shoulder, but when she reached out to stroke her fingers along the blue polyester of her mother's shirt, the world swam violently, her vision warping to a desert landscape with endless skies, the clouds scattered with flashing lights like the firing of millions of cannons.

She drew her hand back, and reality resumed.

"…so we expect her to wake up in a week or so, but we're not certain." What had she missed while she was hallucinating? "You can go see her now, if you'd like."

Her family moved as a unit toward her room, where Yumemi had previously looked at herself. She had an oxygen mask around her face, and someone had been nice enough to wash the blood from her hair, so she didn't look quiet dead. However, with her pallid skin and closed eyes, the image was enough to spook her.

She didn't want to hear her family talk to her, but she stayed anyway.

Her mother stared at her body like she was dead already, her father silent as a tomb. However, Chikara filled up the miserable silence with an innocent voice that lifted her spirits.

"Well, I think she'll be fine." He stated this with as much confidence as the Doctor they spoke to moments earlier. "After all, the doctor said she should wake up in a week or so. Say-"he turned to the Hidaka parents "-do I have to do her chores?" Yumemi knew he was putting up a chipper front for the sake of their parents – she could see his hands trembling at his sides –but it was enough to put a bitter smile back on their faces.

They eventually left, and Yumemi didn't follow them. No, she thought it better to stay with her body.

After all, she didn't want to leave it behind.

** O**

A woman, hair like violet silken rivers and eyes as pure and clear as amethyst turned her head, her senses tugged on the way a child would pull at her robes.

Toche, her protégé, turned to look at her. "Ryueli?" He asked, worried.

Her eyes narrowed. "I felt something, a moment ago. Like someone must have…" She turned back to the child next to her, brushing the pads of her finds along his golden bangs. "Never mind. The akuto in the air must be blurring my sight." He cocked his head, interested.

"What did you think you saw?"

"Not saw," she corrected. "I _felt_ it this time. The world seemed to fluxgate, mildly, the same way a puddle might when a pebble is dropped in. But it felt like two puddles on top of one another moving, and the stone was wedged betwixt them." He nodded. "But there is only one being who can travel between worlds, and if he felt that…"

A man, tan with coarse russet hair and the markings of time and space crawling across his skin, turned to look to his side. Something had caught his attention.

"…Then perhaps it is one after all."

** O**

Yumemi had no idea what to do while the hours went by. She couldn't sleep, only watch her body and wait to see if she woke up.

Most of the time she would watch herself breathe. It made her feel reassured the same way listening to the heart monitor constantly did.

Yumemi noticed she couldn't smell anything, at least not the right things.

Late at night, while the janitor was washing the hall by her room, she could not smell the sharp scent of the cleaner, only mineral and dust. That was odd, considering she was nowhere near a desert. Even when the janitor spilled the cleaner across the floor in a lurid yellow she could only smell desert and sand, hot on her skin.

She watched nurses check her vitals and pass by her room. One came in with a wash cloth and water, cleaning off the dried blood across her face. That was nice of her, she noticed. Yumemi read her name tag, and she hoped she would wake up to thank the nurse named Susan.

Later that day, Ichiko dropped by to visit.

Her eyes were puffy, and her cheeks were drawn in when she stepped into the room. The brunette hesitated before sitting down, as though she didn't want to intrude on Yumemi's coma.

"Hey…" She spoke aloud, the words morose and somber. "I'm sorry I didn't visit yesterday."

Yumemi would have said aloud that it was fine, but she knew her dear friend couldn't see nor hear her.

"I was… busy, I guess. I don't know. I didn't want to come and see you like this." Her eyes stared to moisten, and she rubbed them angrily. "I hate crying," she shuddered "because it makes me remember when you always carried around that umbrella, it was because of me, because _I_ cried." Yumemi wanted desperately to tell her it wasn't, but no one could hear her talking.

_No one_.

"And now you're hurt because of me, because of the fact that I didn't make you go ahead, or wait a moment after that last earthquake, _damn_ it." She leaned over, more suppressed tears dripping down her face. "I just want you to stop hurting," Ichiko whispered, and she buried her hands in her face while a nurse walked in to console her.

Yumemi reached a hand out to try and touch Ichiko in any way, even if it only felt like the brush of a leaf or the sound of wind, anything to get her to stop crying, and the moment she made contact with her, Yumemi's world exploded into light.

** O**

Toche sat beside the Akuto guardian, waiting for Ryueli to get out of her meeting with Munto. Sometimes, every once in a while, she didn't want him hearing certain things. Although it might have irritated him sometimes, it certainly didn't now, not with all the wars going on.

The Akuto giant beside him shifted, as though looking at something in the distance. "Hey, what is it?" The being made an odd deep noise in reply, something Toche couldn't understand like the rest of the people, before it sat up. A massive hand descended downward, patting the boy on the head, before white wings emerged from its back like budding roses.

It leapt off the edge of the island and soared downward, which Toche thought was strange, but the doors behind him creaked from old age as his Prophetess stepped out. There were bigger things to worry about.

** O**

Yumemi felt like she was between two ocean waves, crashing her in both directions. Her body was pulling back and forth; her mind felt like it was compressing and stretching at the same time.

The world around her was flashing white lights, the colors of the sunset piercing her vision, and the blurry image of Ichiko sitting next to someone smashing into each other, like a morbid ballet of ripping photos created by light and roaring sound.

She tried to pull away, but everything was dragging her forward, pulling her into something, and she didn't want to know what.

Light flashed again, but when she closed her eyes they flashed behind her eyelids, fiery and dark as a midnight forest fire. She could have sworn she saw a man with long blonde hair whip around to look at her, eyes oddly clear and understanding in the void of chaos.

Then, silver and vivid, a hand larger than her whole body wrapped around her midsection, pulling her from the lights and the crashing waves, and into the sunset.

And Yumemi was staring at the desert, rock and parched land drenched in the honey colors of the fading sun. She sat up, and felt the dust under her fingers, and smelled the dust, and heard the wind howl across the landscape.

Turning, she saw a creature of gleaming silvers and wings with leathery white feathers. It startled her, and she pulled back at first. It cocked its head at her, its face crafted from sapphire, reflecting the image of her surprised face. At least her face wasn't blurred along with the rest of her body. It made a noise then, like the groan of bending metal, but she heard a whisper underneath it as well.

"I – what?"

She didn't think this form had a heart, nor a heartbeat, but she heard it roar in her ears as she strained to listen.

"_I asked if you were alright, lady."_ The creature said aloud. She swallowed, pulling her bright, almost white, hair back from her face.

"I think I am now, yes." She nodded as she spoke, looking around.

The voice was distinctly male, and he nodded in response, as though pleased. "_My name is Dulahan, the last of the Akuto guardians. You are Princess Yumemi, the girl of destiny, and a spirit walker as well_."

"I'm – How do you know my name? What's a spirit walker?" Suddenly, Dulahan was no longer a creature, but a very well informed friend. "Where am I?"

"_To answer the last question first_," he replied in a docile voice "_we are in the Heavens_."

Yumemi froze. It took her more than a moment to look up, her eyes edging to the sky.

There was the island.

But it was not alone.

Many other islands, small, large, long, fat, were alongside it, shadowing the sky with dark outlines.

"I'm in Heaven? I'm where… Munto is?" She asked aloud, but her voice sounded so far away. Everything seemed so far away, at this point.

On the island, Munto turned around. Rui was the first to notice once more. "Sir?" He asked, his tone low so the other officers would not hear it.

"I thought someone just called my name just now…" he murmured.


	3. Double-sided Mirror

_**Renascence**_

** O**

_Double-sided Mirror_

** O**

Yumemi blinked, rubbing her eyes with radiant hands. The desert around her was real, yes, she could see and smell and touch it, but there was a silvery undertone that hurt her eyes and made her swallow hard. "I've only seen this place once before," she muttered, remembering her first and only physical encounter with Munto. She had little time to look around her surroundings and see the vast desert wasteland before the veil between their worlds viciously attacked her. Now, looking around, she could recognize the area she was in.

"_Odd_," Dulahan stated, his chrome head tilting in the way an eager hound's might. Yumemi blinked twice, hoping he would elaborate, and when he didn't she asked aloud "What?"

"_Spirit walkers stride between worlds at a very young age. If this is your first time striding, you are a very weak spirit walker_."

She rolled her shoulders anxiously, looking to the side. "Actually, I don't think I'm a spirit-strider, or what you call it…" Dulahan stood up slowly; his height staggered her and made her stutter from impulsive fear. "I – uh – got hurt, and wound up like this before you saved me - ?"

He was silent and as still as a tomb, and Yumemi hoped she hadn't angered him in any way. He was too large and alien for her to even attempt to calm down if enraged.

"_You were wedged in the veil_," he stated aloud "_between the worlds. I could see you because I see Akuto, as do you if you are looking. If you were harmed and pulled from your body, a different entity has given you the ability of spirit walker to fulfill some task_."

She clasped her hands together. "But who brought me here? Why did they do it?" Silence was the only answer he could reply with, and she cast her eyes downward in disappointment and confusion.

His wings flapped once as he looked up, as though he had seen something she hadn't. "Dulahan?" She asked anxiously. She hoped the massive silver guardian wasn't leaving, she had no idea how to get back home.

"_I am being summoned by the King,_" he rumbled, his voice as deep as a whale call. He looked at her expectantly, leaning down. She cocked her head in confusion, pale hair wafting into her face. "_I will take you to the King_," he elaborated simply, reaching out a massive hand.

_The King?_ She thought nervously. A memory from two years ago occurred to her as clear it was from the day it happened.

"_I told you, it's _King_ Munto!"_

"Munto?" Yumemi asked aloud, her voice going shrill with the thought. He nodded, and she barely hesitated when she slid into his open palm, and he settled her in the crook of his neck.

He was silent from then on, but it wasn't as if she could make a single sound when he took flight. Yumemi gasped from the wind as it cut into her face, but she felt no pain. Only a sharp cold as they dove into a cloud and her arms tightened around Dulahan's silver head as they soared higher, the sky great and wide and open and _wonderful_. She laughed a little then, looking down and seeing nothing but a thick blanket of clouds beneath them. Their shadow was against the clouds, and it was a tiny flickering shape; a testament to how high in elevation they were. The setting sun gave everything a pink and orange glow, making the clouds seem like sugary floss.

"To Munto!" She stated loudly, and Dulahan made that odd howling noise in reply, setting her into a fit of giggles.

** O**

Ichiko could honestly say she was having one of the worst weeks of her life.

Dragging her feet as she walked home, the teen kept replaying the moment of the accident in her head, rolling it over and over until all she could recall was Yumemi's face and how it drained from life as she held her close. If she had been quicker, if she had waited a moment longer, if she had made Yumemi step ahead of her, if she had, _if she had_…

But she hadn't. And she had been regretting it every second since the moment it happened.

Ichiko lazily opened her door to her and her father's apartment, sliding in and ignoring her father's greeting as she meandered to the other side of the room. She knew she shouldn't be acting that way toward her father, but she didn't have the stamina or the willpower to say anything but "Leave me alone" and her father didn't deserve such a bitter reply from his daughter. So she stayed silent as she slumped over at the kitchen stable, kicking her feet unhappily and resting her head on crossed arms.

The Doctor said Yumemi would be fine, and he told her Yumemi didn't lose as much blood as it looked, but she was drenched in it. How could she have not lost so much blood when it soaked into her school skirt and her blouse and socks? When her father threw them away because the stains had settled and he knew she would stare at those clothes all day? No, the doctor was lying and Yumemi was going to die of blood loss because she hadn't done anything when she was supposed to.

As tears stung her eyes, she heard a gentle deep voice say aloud "It's not your fault, Ichiko." She swallowed, her throat feeling gummy, but she couldn't reply. "Sometimes things just happen. That's just life." She leaned up to turn and look at him, cooking at the stove something spicy smelling and burning a little while he moved it around with a spatula. He was looking straight ahead, as though thinking back to another time.

He was making Donburi, she could tell by the fact that he had heaped two bowls full of white rice before dumping the contents of the pan onto the bowls.

Her father turned to her, gingerly handing her a bowl, and she took it silently. She didn't feel hungry. She hadn't been feeling hungry, not really. Not since the accident. Her father looked like he knew that though, from the grim twist his frown had.

"_Ichiko_!" She jumped at how loud he was.

"W-what old man?"

He suddenly stood up, and in the process he knocked the saltshaker over. "You care about Yumemi, right?!"

She sputtered, a blush dusting her face as she stated aloud "Of course I do, you moron!"

One of his slippered feet slammed onto the edge of the table. "_You wanna make sure she makes it out alright?!_"

In reply, she copied the motion, one of her feet up on the table as she leaned forward. "Yeah! _What about it?!"_

He took in a giant breath, before bellowing "_**Do you think Yumemi would appreciate you moping around?!**_"

She swallowed hard again, blinking. "I-" her voice faltered.

Her father put his hands on his sides, once again yelling "_The Ono family has always been known for its power and enthusiasm in troubling times, when the columns of heaven shake and the clouds from above thunder down!_" He spun and pointed an accusatory finger at her. "_Would you disgrace your family name and your dear friend by not honoring tradition?!_"

That old fart. "Wh-what the hell, you dolt?" She sputtered out, flustered and mildly embarrassed. He leaned over, his face close to hers.

"I said, _would you disgrace family tradition_?"

She swallowed, shifting backwards in her seat. "I – _no!_" He suddenly stood up straight, causing the table to wobble and the bowls of Donburi to topple over.

"Good! Then we shall honor tradition, and cook almond cookies, rice cakes, and other confectionaries for your friend until she wakes from her temporary slumber! And we _will be_ light hearted about it!" He grinned at her, and a small smile wiggled over her features.

"You stupid old jerk, you spilled the Donburi everywhere! Clean it up!"

And for a moment, Ichiko felt that heaviness on her heart lighten. It wasn't gone; but her father's antic's helped.

** O**

Yumemi clutched Dulahan tightly, swallowing thickly as she saw the shadow of the island above them. It was odd, seeing it so close.

They swooped upward, causing her to flinch as the sunlight from the horizon hit her face full on, but as she blinked out the shadows from her visions, she saw the island.

This was the world she had been denied to see all her life.

Night was descending, but she saw a few things. There was grass, she saw that. It was rich and green, thick like fur. But the grandeur she had imagined was absent, instead visages and rubble in the wake of magnificent castles. She could remember that was what it looked like, in the memories she had received from Munto. The stone ruins were the color and texture of sandstone, but once again she saw something like silver undertones as she blinked. They soared to an area that still looked like castle, more Arabian than western; great spirals reached into the sky eagerly, like swords, and sandy dome-like structures stood under grasses and vines that crept up the sides.

Dulahan did not hesitate as they neared an entrance, instead only soaring through as people – actual people, not hallucinations – with pointed ears and vibrant hair ducked, a few cursing the Akuto guardian, a few laughing at his antics, and others stayed silent as though the tomfoolery he had caused was a normal occurrence. She scarcely had time to look at the walls, covered in odd patterns and pearly stones, pictures like hieroglyphics from a past long forgotten, and they were in an open room. Columns were on the far end, revealing an indigo night sky, stars still absent as the sun lingered a little longer.

And, in the middle of the room was a singe throne.

Sitting on this throne was King Munto in all his crimson glory, bright rubies and a mane like flames. His eyes flicked toward Dulahan, and he waved the guardian over with a flip of his wrist. Dulahan tilted slightly, just enough so Yumemi could slide off, and he continued walking.

Yumemi all but sprinted toward Munto, her eyes glazing over with tears. "Munto-!" She squeaked out, halting just in front of him.

It was Munto, his eyes golden and fiery hair in mats on his scalp. He glanced toward her, his vision gliding over where she was, and it continued as he turned to the left. "Ryueli," he stated aloud, greeting the woman who entered.

"What?" Yumemi asked quietly, waving her hands. "Munto?" She asked louder, tepidness gone. He hadn't noticed she was there at all. What was wrong?

Dulahan's gentle voice carried like a sweet wind, quiet as a whisper but loud enough to attract her attention. "_You are a spirit walker, and only those with the vision of Akuto can see you. Most magical beings cannot see you, Lady_." He sounded almost sad.

She shook her head idly, like a reflex. "What? No, that can't be right," she muttered, looking at Munto. He continued to talk to the woman and her child, not even aware of her presence. The throb of her heartbeat rang in her ears, and she ran her glowing blue hands over her arms, glancing down at her luminescent body. She couldn't hear what he was saying. His precious voice was nothing but a murmur in her ears, and her breaths were quick and panicked.

"If you hesitate here, the future we have opened will collapse on us again!" The woman, Ryueli, was speaking. Her child, the blonde one, was clutching her silken robes. "That wave of Akuto that girl has brought will eventually become mere sea foam."

That girl, bringing Akuto… were they talking about her? They couldn't be.

"To grasp the future, you must…" She faded out, as though thinking, lavender hair pulled back with a golden crown.

Munto spoke up, velvety tones absorbing all of Yumemi's attention. "That girl believed in both me and her future when she ripped open the space-time continuum." He glanced upwards, his voice low in reverence. "At that moment, Akuto overflowed into the heavens." His eyebrows furrowed.

"That was enough."

Yumemi swallowed, stepping back, looking between Munto and Ryueli. Did that mean that she wasn't needed? Ryueli looked pained, almost pitying, but a man with snow blue hair burst in.

"King Munto! They've come, this time its Horguze's Heavy Magical Battalion." Munto's face tightened into an unpleasant expression.

"Very well." He sat up. Yumemi stepped back. "All who can fight will come."

Yumemi felt her head spinning – she wasn't needed but she was here, she wasn't powerful but she was here, why was she here? They didn't need her anymore, but why did she see the island from above, and see the sparkling flakes of pure Akuto fall from the sky?

Dulahan stood up to go to her, but Munto told him something. "There's no need for you. Stay there," he commanded. She winced at his words, but Dulahan simply stopped standing. As he passed Ryueli he stated "Don't worry. I will protect this place." As he exited the double doors, they shut behind him.

Yumemi felt something like a cold stone drop into her stomach.

** O**

Ryueli knew that Munto was simply stalling. He knew that she knew. But the worlds were falling apart; they were running out of time. Her apprentice tugged at her robes. "He is afraid, Toche…"

Before she could say another word, a figure, silvery and small flickered behind her eyelids.

She turned, looking, finding nothing. "Ryueli?" Toche asked uncertainly, small hands tugging pale robes. She closed her eyes, peering through her sights, seeing what could not be seen.

Energy flexed by her sight, but in a place of Akuto and space, she saw two figures. The Akuto guardian, standing up and moving against Munto's orders, and the shape of a girl.

She had her face in her hands, shoulder's shaking slightly, long hair swimming through the air.

"A spirit walker?" She asked aloud, perturbed. She knew one must have been in the area, but how? She assumed Gass would have found them and interrogated them by now. The spirit walker's died when the veil between the world's was set by the first King. The girl jerked at the title, and Ryueli could see deep eyes, blue and endless. Her mouth moved, but the noise was muffled as though she was underwater, or talking through a pillow. The Seer had to focus, so deeply she could feel the Akuto in her veins, to hear her properly.

"_**Do you know what I am?**_" The girl sounded – surprisingly enough – scared. She sounded like a frightened child, which she may as well have been, considering how young she was.

But she was at that odd age, where there was a ban on giving birth. Ryueli peered closer into her sight until she couldn't even feel Toche's touch, or smell the night air, only the heartbeat of the Akuto, and she focused on the girl.

Round ears. Large eyes, pupils the shape of a diamond.

Ryueli opened her eyes, finding herself awestruck. "_Yumemi?_"

** O**

Yumemi stepped back at hearing her name, eyes widening. Ryueli, this woman could see Akuto movement. "How do you know my name?" She asked aloud, hoping for a reply.

Ryueli shook her head helplessly, looking around. "I need you to follow me, girl of destiny. So we may talk." Yumemi hesitated, but soon followed. If this woman could see her and hear her, maybe she could somehow get back home, or at least explain what was going on.

Dulahan followed them, and Yumemi was grateful. He had already seemed like a good friend, and had withheld nothing from her so far, offering what he could when she panicked. Ryueli spoke aloud, talking to not her, but the gleaming guardian following them.

"Did you bring her, Akuto guardian?" She sounded amused, but also curious.

Dulahan replied with "_I found her_." His voice was docile and soft. Ryueli shook her head as Toche tugged at her robes.

"I still do not understand your speech, guardian."

Toche, the small blonde child at her side replied in a chipper voice "He said he found her. Who is he talking about?" Yumemi looked over at the child, taking in his features. In Munto's memories, his parent's had died to give him enough akuto to grow up. Had that poor child also lost his parents?

Ryueli had faltered down the stone path, briefly, before pressing on. "The Girl of Destiny is the spirit walker, Toche. I think she's lost, if the Akuto guardian found her."

They were walking up to a flat area, with stairs reaching up. It was mostly intact, save a few bits of chipping edges. Yumemi walked gingerly up the steps, trying to be careful not to trip, glancing behind her every once in a while to make sure Dulahan was still there. Up on the flat was a round pool of water, and the seer approached it hurriedly.

"Quickly, Yumemi, if that is who you are, stand parallel to me by this pond." Yumemi scrambled to follow, the sand gritting under feet and making her feel malleable. She stood at the other side of the pool, wringing her hands uneasily.

The pool lurched upwards like a sea wave, before centering into an oval. It flicked water at the edges, making Yumemi's glowing wrists feel wet with spray. As it gathered, she saw Ryueli's eyes open wide with surprise.

"It is you, Girl of Destiny." The seer sounded amazed, reverent, and most of all, confused. "But why?"

Yumemi shook her head, speaking aloud. "I don't know, I don't know why I'm here, I thought I was here because of Munto but I'm not, but Dulahan says that someone brought me here but I don't know who and do you know how to send me back?"

Ryueli shook her head, confused. "I can't – I don't hear you at all, I can only see you. It takes me great effort to hear." Yumemi felt deflated – what could she do? At least the seer seemed wise. She might know what to do.

Dulahan saved the day. "_She has been brought here by an unknown source. She is lost_." Toche relayed this to Ryueli, who sighed, looking significantly disturbed.

"You don't know who brought you here?" Yumemi shook her head, white hair flooding around her face. "Well, how did you get here?"

"_She was hurt significantly in an accident_," Dulahan rumbled.

"She was hurt really badly," Toche relayed, eyes glued to the water screen.

Yumemi nodded, feeling much like they were playing a game of telephone. Ryueli closed her eyes, thinking quietly.

"Perhaps," she started slowly, silky voice intrigued "you were sent here as our savior." Yumemi ran a hand through her thick and glowing hair, cocking her head. "Spirit walkers can manipulate Akuto to their will easily, Yumemi. And you produce Akuto, much of it, and are a walking hole to the other realm." Ryueli glanced at the water mirror, her steady voice elevating in volume. "You could use Akuto from your realm over on this side. It would be a small outlet, a small cycle you created."

Yumemi shook her head in confusion. "How does the Akuto cycle work, exactly? How would I create something out of Akuto?"

Dulahan told this to Toche, who roughly relayed it to Ryueli.

The seer pulled her sleek hair back, sighing. "This may be a long night."

** O**

A man, name long forgotten, looks up from the eternal darkness and endless spirals of time, to peer through cracks and holes in the veil.

"The Girl of Destiny," he mutters quietly, looking at the girl with diamond eyes.

It is the first noise he has made in centuries.


	4. Growing Pains

_**Renascence**_

** O**

_Growing Pains_

** O**

Yumemi could admit that she was getting better at manipulating Akuto.

But it wasn't a very large improvement.

"Try to focus, Yumemi. Feel that which has always been within' you, pull that which called you here."

Eyes closed, she let the words of the lady wash over her, calm yet determined, and she focused. Something warm, like water but much stronger seemed to tug at the skin of her palms, and the flesh underneath.

"Focus on that you most desire now, _that which you want to make true_."

What did she want? Opening her eyes for a split moment, she glanced to her form, ethereal blue and bare of cloth. Clothing. She didn't want to feel naked and naïve, she wanted something to wrap around herself, something to make her feel less like a babe and more like the woman she had to be to save the world.

The warmth pulsed, the liquid feelings turned to twine twisting from her palms, energy clinging close to her form and slithering about her body like a serpent. It curled around her neck, constricting around her legs, the warmth escalated to a heat and pulsed like a heartbeat. Yumemi relaxed then, sighing at the warmth, and the pulse ceased from her form and from her hands.

Opening her eyes and looking down, a simple dress was pulled around her body. It was a constant fluctuating color, like broken glass in sunlight, a warped rainbow. She clapped her hands, and spun around as she looked at herself. It was a dress!

She looked up at the seer in front of her, who had taken a few steps back. "The color indicates that it is unstable Akuto," she explained. "But it seems stable enough on your body… Perhaps you are a conductor?" She bit her lip, uncertain, but still pleased at the progress they had made through the night. Ryueli looked like she was going to say something, but a sharp voice from behind her made her head snap away.

"Ryueli," Munto scolded quietly "I thought I told you to stay in the main hall." He glanced upwards then, and Yumemi darted past the sight of the watery mirror. She pressed herself up against Dulahan, his silvery hands cupping around her in a protective manner, but Munto didn't notice. He was still staring at the mirror. "What was that just now?" He asked suddenly, turning to Ryueli.

She rolled her shoulders, cocking her head. "What do you mean?" Munto opened his mouth to say something, but looked like he changed his mind as he turned away.

"Never mind; we have to go. The land is becoming… unstable." He stalked off without another word, and Yumemi peeked out from between the Guardian's massive fingers.

Ryueli turned, mouthing to Dulahan something, but Yumemi couldn't tell what. She was carrying Toche away, as he had fallen asleep in the night, and she was too distracted by Munto to repeat what she had whispered.

"What did she say?" Yumemi asked, sitting up in the Guardian's hands.

"_She said to keep trying_," he echoed with the voices of whales. She leaned back, sighing. "_I will take us to a safe place_," he told her, and the girl slid behind his head to perch on his neck as he took off from the altar.

Yumemi was more than pleased with the sights she saw, the beautiful sky that seemed to be endless, and the great ancient towers. She wished she could have been looking at them in such a way that wasn't so controversial though. Patting the Guardian's head, the creature continued to soar.

**OOOOO**

A man, stature tall and cloaks black and gold glared at the glowing screen. His eyes narrowed, silver hair in great long strands that lingered down his back were held by his crest. "How insufferable," he mumbled to himself, long fingers stroking his chin.

Gntarl's plans had been totally disrupted by the girl's freak accident. She was now in some sort of medical center, which meant that she was in one place, but it was also troublesome. Until her condition reached stability, they couldn't try to claim her lands with the risk of her death. If she died, she'd be of no use. His plans were postponed for – hopefully – a week, until she awoke from her trauma sleep. Both she and he were sitting ducks.

Oh well, his forces could hold until then. He already sent out another battalion to deal with Munto hopefully, and all his men. If she hadn't been injured, he wouldn't have to, but now they were using all the manpower they had.

Sitting and waiting was never something Gntarl was good at.

**OOOOO**

Yumemi was sitting in what seemed to be a very, very old temple. The others had been destroyed, so she pondered why this one wasn't.

Dulahan seemed to sense what she was wondering, and he replied "_This place is guarded by ancient Akuto wards; they can only be passed by a creature of Akuto_." Yumemi flexed her hands nervously. That meant she was a creature of Akuto too, right?

Dulahan seemed to be studying her quietly, before reaching out his hand once more. "_Shall we continue?_" She nodded, slipping her tiny hand into his.

"What next?" She questioned as he tugged her to sit down while he knelt.

"_Try and recreate a substance_," he echoed to her. He tugged her hand onto his face, and waited.

She swallowed. "You – you want me to try and remake the same stuff as your face?" He made a deep humming sound, akin to a purr. She steadied herself and closed her eyes.

_I want to make something like Dulahan's mask_, she repeated to herself, the hot Akuto coursing down her hands. It didn't pulse though; it just grew, like a pool of heat under her hand. It felt like liquid, but thicker. Her skin and flesh were burning; the heat down to her very bones, but it didn't hurt.

A moment later, she blinked out of focus and pulled her hand back.

A slim metal thing clattered to the ground in front of her, still yellow to the core, molten hot. Yumemi tapped it once and it settled into shimmering silver, and she picked it up.

It was large enough to cover her face, a sheer silver surface, but like Dulahan's face it had a t-shape that was glimmering crystal, like sapphire. After a moment, just out of curiosity, she held it up against her face like a mask.

Looking through the shimmering blue, everything looked strange. The Guardian was pulsing, almost white. She looked at her left hand, as her right was holding the mask up, and she could see something like white veins up and down her arms pulsating. "What is this?" She asked, still not removing the mask.

"_It seems the material has inherited my sight_," he mused, leaning over to look at the mask on her face. His head was glimmering; a thin line on his neck pulsed strangely, like he had been cut there. "_I can see Akuto_," he elaborated. "_You would do well to leave that on. It will help as you grow stronger_." Her right hand tried to lower itself with the mask but the sheer metal seemed to be stuck to her features.

She panicked for a moment, until she felt three thin metal bands that went into her hair to lodge the mask in place. She could still breathe easily, not at all muffled and stuffy, and she could talk as well without sounding strange. "It's stuck in my hair," she stated, fumbling fingers in her white strands.

"_You should leave it_," he stated confidently, and so she left it attached to her face with a sigh. A moment later, the island rumbled ominously, shaking the ground under her. Dulahan grabbed her instantly and made for the skies, and when she finally blinked the dizziness from her eyes, she could spot red fire concentrated like bursts in the distance.

"What's happening?" Yumemi asked, panicking.

"_War_," was Dulahan's warning.

As they soared overhead, she could see people battling with what seemed to be monsters, great hulking things of metal that spat fire and molten steel. She watched in horror as she saw three people get blown backwards in the air, each losing a limb in the process. Two of them caught themselves. One of them did not, and she went plummeting down through the clouds.

"Dulahan," Yumemi stated with a confidence she did not have "quickly, we must rescue that person!" With a rumble as reply, he dove downwards, wings tucking inwards so he could split the sky and reach the wounded mage. Yumemi could see, as she squinted against the whipping winds, the woman had dark red hair, almost rusty colored, pulled back like a Mohawk. She had markings along her face, like tribal tattoos on tan skin. Her left arm was absent, in its place a massive burn and pitiful stump.

Dulahan scooped her up and veered just before they would hit the ground, diving forward and slowing himself with cupped wings. As they landed on the desert earth, Yumemi slid from his neck and landed on the ground with a stumble, rushing over to his hands.

"Give her to me," she prodded, and he relinquished the woman to the girl of destiny.

Yumemi stared at the bleeding and burnt stub where the woman's arm had once been, in a mild daze. Hesitantly, she placed her palms on the bleeding wound, and focused.

What did she want?

**OOOOO**

Laguna wasn't the best of Munto's warriors, she could admit that. But the rookie mistake she made had cost her a limb, she could see its stub as she fell, blood droplets pooling toward the sky as she looked up at the battle. This wasn't her first wound today, but it would most likely be her last. Her vision went blurry, everything tunneling…

"_Is this how I'm going to die…?_" She thought in a miserable daze as she stared upwards, tears forming along her eyes.

She could have sworn she saw a glowing being with wings just above her as she was pulled into darkness.

When she awoke, it was in a blurry daze, but she felt warm and secure. Looking up, she saw a girl, glowing blue with hair that was as white as a noon-day cloud and went a thousand miles. She was wearing a dress made of pure Akuto, the colors never the same as they reflected the spectrum. The girl's small and glowing hands were on her stub, or more surprisingly, the base of her arm. The girl looked up at her, and she was wearing a silvery mask with a cerulean glass sight on the front. "_You'll be alright_," the girl spoke softly, almost to the point where Laguna couldn't hear her, but she could and it sounded like the dulcet tones that her mother had before she died.

In a desperate attempt to say anything, Laguna mumbled "Are you an angel?"

The girl stroked her face, her hands warm to the point that it felt like she was touching the very energy that created her cheek, and the girl stood and turned to a silvery giant next to her. She mounted the creature before ascending, up into the clouds and high to the sun and battle with leathery wings.

Laguna reached toward the sky with her left arm, now re-grown, whispering. "I was saved by an angel."

**OOOOO**

Yumemi knew what she wanted as Dulahan climbed higher into the clouds and diving square in the middle of the battle. Everyone turned to look at her, the wounded, the strong, the monsters and the generals.

"_Be careful_," Dulahan warned.

What did she want?

Energy pulsed through her hands, hot and fiery to the point that her hands, a blazing white, energy gathering and compressing. She stood on Dulahan's back, and the people who stopped fighting backed away, the wounded scrambled backwards.

Passion burned brightly in her chest and her hands splayed outwards as Akuto exploded around her, around everyone in the area. She could feel the energy being pulled from her as she pushed it out, more and more, blinding the sky with a light that would _heal_.

She felt weak then, and the last thing she was aware of was Dulahan carrying her away as she stared at the sky.

**OOOOO**

"It's true sir!" Laguna had never been so passionate about anything. "She healed my arm, and then she healed the others that were battling with a massive Akuto burst!"

The King's golden eyes seemed to be zeroed in on her like a butcher looking through meat to slice up. She swallowed nervously, hands still open palmed in front of her from her recent excitement. He turned his burning gold eyes to Rui next to him. "Is this correct?"

Rui nodded, bowing his head briefly. "It is, sire. I saw it for myself, and I, too, was healed by this woman's abilities." Laguna could only ponder what wounds he had sustained in battle, but the King brought his attention back to her.

"And what was she?" The King's tone was not a pleasant one, but Laguna answered in confidence.

"An Angel, sir."

His eyebrows shot up. "Excuse me?" Rui seemed to giving her a warning look, telling her not to do anything stupid, but a goofy grin spread across her face.

"An Angel. She even has a pair of wings on her steed." At least, that what she thought the silvery giant was. The Angel certainly hopped onto the silver beast easily enough.

"On her _steed_?" The King looked almost amused. "Maybe you hurt your head on the fall. Rui, escort Laguna out." Panic rose in her chest the moment he said her name – she forgot the King knew everyone's names – but she let herself be prodded out by her General.

Right after the doors shut behind them, Rui's fingers tightened around Laguna's arm and yanked her closer to him. "What were you doing in there," he hissed "trying to make yourself seem like a blundering fool?"

She pulled her arm from his grasp and scowled at him. "What would you call her? If she didn't heal our men when she did, we would've been dead meat and you know it." Rui's expression relaxed a little, from angry to considerate. She straightened her vest out. "And until I get any evidence that she isn't an angel, that's what I'm calling her."

As she stomped down the halls away from her general, she felt a mild confidence bubbling up inside her.

**OOOOO**

Three days.

Three days Yumemi had been in the hospital, but not a peep came from her, not a whisper. She was as silent as death, and as the minutes turned to hours her dear friend hoped that was not what was waiting for her.

Suzume, her quiet and innocent friend, sat beside Yumemi.

"I know you're listening, Yumemi," her childish friend stated. "So I guess I'll tell you what happened today. I went on a date with Kazuya, and he bought me flowers. I brought one for you." She set the rich red rose on the lap of her friend, a breathing device mask over her nose and the tubes tangled on her lap. She moved them, before setting the rose down.

"When you wake up, it'll be blooming," Suzume muttered "like in sleeping beauty."

Silence.

"You'll wake up in four days," she concluded "and I hope I'll be there when you do." Her friend sat up and walked out, her "husband" taking her hand and leading her out as she shot one last glimpse of Yumemi before leaving.

**OOOOO**

Yumemi blinked lazily, the scent of flowers wafting around her. Dulahan had set her down in the old temple guarded by runes, but there were no flowers around. Only his worried form leaning over her.

"_Are you awake?_" He asked aloud, and she tried to rub her eyes only for her hands to hit the metal that contoured her face. She sat up and nodded, looking around.

"What happened?" She asked, rubbing her head.

"_You released enough energy to heal everyone in the battle, and King Munto's forces won the fight_." She relaxed, that was a good thing. "_You have been asleep for a full day as your form re-gathered its strength._" She sat up then, eyes widening behind the mask.

"What?" She was shocked.

Dulahan sat back, his wings fluttering slightly on the sandstone behind him. "_You channeled some Akuto, but used your spirit mostly. You exhausted yourself_." She tried to stand, but wobbled unbearably. "_Don't try to move too much_," he cautioned. "_You need _rest."

"But-" her vision swam suddenly and she had to lean on his massive hand. He let her sit on his palm a moment as she slid into it, and she shuddered for an instant as her sight went from the crimson and tan of the temple to a white place with tiled ceilings, and something red on her lap. Her vision blurred back to normal, and she let herself fall asleep in Dulahan's massive silver hands.

_OOOOO_

Munto sat in his room, thinking deeply.

Who was this Angel?

Why had she saved all his people?

Another thought pushed these out though, one that seemed much more important.

_Why can't I stop thinking about Yumemi?_

He couldn't stop thinking about her since he saw her figure in Ryueli's mirror, but since his seer hadn't seen it, it was obviously a shadow of his own desires. He didn't want to think about what his desires were, why he saw her face everywhere he went, and even more so, why he thought he could feel her in the back of his mind.

He was being foolish for thinking about such things. She was safer in her own world.

But still, her memories prevailed, and they haunted his sleep. Many nights ago, the last time he slept, he dreamt of concrete walkways, dark and damp as pale hands with slender fingers squeezed around the handle of a pink parasol. "_I can see like everyone else today_," was the quiet and hurt words that wafted through his mind. When he awoke, he didn't realize how it would affect him until, as he dressed, he saw his face damp with tears in the mirror. Rui was worried for him, and Munto could only laugh dryly at the fact that he was no longer worried for himself, but for something much bigger.

He stared at the night sky outside. A day had passed since his people had seen the Angel, and it took only that long for his entire army to be referring to her as such. No matter how much he felt the name was absurd, it fit because she was their savior for a moment. The question was: who was the Angel?

That night as he lay to sleep in the first time for days, he dreamt of his Akuto beast holding him and rocking him slowly as he hummed a song long forgotten.


	5. Celebrations and Contemplations

_**Renascence**_

** O**

_Celebrations and Contemplations_

** O**

"Now, Dulahan!"

The Akuto creature dipped downward, whizzing through the air as she held onto his shoulders with her legs. As they shot downward, she threw out concentrated bursts of Akuto in an attempt to channel the energy. As the energy dissipated in the sky, it seemed to explode with color, like fireworks.

They landed in the temple, and she pulled her hair back over her shoulders. "How was it this time, Dulahan?"

He nodded approvingly. "You _show no signs of fatigue. You are channeling the Akuto, instead of forcing it from you._" He affectionately patted her head, and she giggled at his praise. She was certain it was because she slept so well, with him singing to her all night. However, as she was glancing around the temple, she spotted something in the patches of grass outside the walls of the building. It looked fiery, but it shimmered strangely. Curious, she stepped out and gingerly picked one up, and she found that through the mask the red thing was bright white.

"What is this?" She asked the Akuto guardian when she returned with nearly ten of them cupped in her arms. He picked one up. They were roughly oval, and colored like ruby crystals.

"_Akuto stones. They are very rare, as most of them were destroyed when the Akuto was depleting, and the people needed more. They are concentrated energy_." He handed it back to her. "_They must've been created by your energy bursts._"

They clinked together musically as she set them on the ground. Before she could contemplate what to do with them, the temple rumbled once more. She looked toward Dulahan, and her fears were confirmed. It was another battle.

She hopped onto Dulahan's shoulders, holding onto his head as he took off into the air. She was almost used to the feeling of air rushing past her face by this point, but looking at the clouds under her still gave her an adrenaline rush.

Off in the distance, she spotted a creature fighting with the people. It looked like mottled steel with pumping veins, and the holographic image of someone in a mask as its face. It wasn't pleasant to look at, and it moved like a startled snake does, in lazy liquid movement.

In front of the creature was Munto, supposedly about to do a showdown. Her heart skipped a beat, but she swallowed her nerves and looked back around the battlefield. Few others were fighting; that meant her best bet to save people from getting hurt would be to attack the creature that was giving Munto the hairy eye.

"Dulahan, do you think if I fired the Akuto bursts rapidly, I could do some damage?"

"_It is certain_," he replied in his soothing voice. Without having to ask him to, he flew around the beast that was currently mocking Munto, like a vulture circling a carcass.

She charged up her hands, heat flooding to her very fingertips, and let the Akuto burst from her hands at an alarming rate. As they hit the monster, whole chunks of it exploded. Yumemi didn't like the idea that her pure Akuto could do that. However, as she did one last circle, they went past the face of the beast. The holographic image hiccupped, but she heard the person demand who she was between static.

She didn't answer the masked person, but fired one last time at its head. The metal went molten as the body collapsed, not able to recreate its limbs after losing its head. She tugged on Dulahan's shoulder, a motion for them to leave, but she heard Munto exclaim loudly. She spun around where she sat, almost between Dulahan's shoulder-blades, and realized that King Munto could _see_ her.

"Who are you?" he asked in what could only be astonishment. His hair was a tangle of red, his golden eyes nearly pinning her in place as he demanded to know her identity.

She opened her mouth to reply, but shut it promptly. If Lady Ryueli was right, then if Munto found out she was here, he would surely find a way to send her back.

Without another word, she and Dulahan flew off beyond the rim of the island Munto was standing on, back to the Akuto bound temple.

**OOOOO**

Munto stared at the speck of light that was the Angel before it dipped under the island's edge. "Laguna," he called aloud. In seconds, the mage landed beside him.

"Yes, King Munto?"

He glanced over to her, and Laguna was sitting in a couching position next to him. Her Mohawk had been pulled back into a ponytail to keep out of her hair in battle, and a few cuts were along her arms and face. A few bruises began to form. She wasn't all that wounded.

"You're the best tracker we have," he muttered. "Find out where the Angel has been hiding out."

She hopped away in a flash, already soaring through the air. Luckily, Laguna was one of the quicker fliers, and that made her the best one for the job. As far as Munto was concerned, this "Angel" was either on his side or not, and he needed to find out, and quickly.

"Rui." His general formed beside him in a haze of flurrying energy. "We've just laid a harsh blow to both Volgooze's forces and Gntarl's. They'll be steering clear of us for at least a day." Rui nodded, waiting for whatever his majesty commanded. Surprisingly, the king's features cracked into a small smirk. "We'll be holding a celebration in the cultural hall, nearby the armored dome."

"For the victory of one battle?" Rui asked, mildly confused.

Munto turned away, and as he walked Rui glided up next to him. "The soldiers need a morale boost," he explained. "And a celebration is just the way for me to meet up with the 'Angel' everyone's been so ecstatic about."

Rui rubbed his chin. Since the day the Angel came into play, their forces had more time to regather. Their supplies were no longer limited; they almost had a surplus of food and water. They even had room in the medical clearing. They could have a celebration, and it wouldn't be too hard to put it up, as the Cultural hall was their main area to place foods and other major supplies.

"That is true, sire," Rui finally responded as they wandered back to their home-base "but why do you want to meet up with the Angel?"

Munto sighed suddenly, his gaze flicking back to his longtime friend. "I need to know which side she's on… and besides, she seems a very interesting person." Munto then took flight for the Armored Dome to set up preparations for such a celebration. Rui sat silent a moment, before joining him.

**OOOOO**

Laguna was wringing her hands more than a little nervously. She had located where the Angel had been staying, and after returning to home base she was supposed to invite the Angel to a celebration. How was she supposed to do this? The Angel was a savior in their last few battles as of late, and Laguna didn't want to seem like some sort of thug under Munto, sent out to do his dirty work in the dead of night.

After finally mustering up her courage, she stepped out from behind the boulder she had been pacing behind, only to see the Angel and her steed watching her, as if expecting her.

"Uhm," she stated in a shaky voice "hello?"

The Angel inclined her head, acknowledging her. That was a good sign, right?

"I came to invite you to a celebration," she stated lamely. She realized she was nearly twenty feet away from the Angel and her steed. Could she even hear Laguna's mutterings?

The Angel cocked her head, beckoning her to continue talking. Laguna swallowed once, hard, before continuing. "I-It's at the Magical Kingdom, in the Cultural Hall. King Munto will be attending, along with the remaining royalty." Why did she have to say 'remaining'? There weren't that many of the old royals dead.

The Angel nodded, once, pulling her long white hair over her right shoulder. Laguna blinked. "Is that… Is that a yes? As in you'll be coming?" The Angel nodded again, her hair moving in a liquid fashion as though underwater. Laguna blurted a thank you before stumbling away to inform Munto of the news. Before she got out of ear-shot, she heard the Angel speak.

"_If we're careful… we can win this_." The words sounded fragile; but there was a strength Laguna could not recognize, a power behind such a brittle phrase. She left after that, her boots kicking up dirt as she sped into the waning sun.

**OOOOO**

Yumemi was nervous.

But she was excited.

She might get the opportunity to properly speak to Munto, and maybe convince him to let her stay if she revealed her identity. She was sitting in the temple, sitting in front of the stones she had created earlier. They were very pretty, and the Celebration would no doubt be in the night, so she still at least a few hours to prepare herself.

Dulahan seemed to stare at her quietly for a moment, before speaking aloud. "_You should make yourself some new clothes_."

She looked up at him. "Eh?"

"_You are going to a celebration, and your powers are vastly more powerful than before. You could make yourself new clothes_."

She hadn't thought of it. Focusing her energy and closing her eyes, she thought of what she wanted in her new clothes.

She didn't want them to make her look weak. She needed to look strong, if she was going to convince Munto she could protect herself. And they had to make an impression, a good one. She didn't even know the culture, what clothes could possibly be formed in whimsical thoughts like these?

Cold black eyes she didn't know were watching flicked his hand between the tears of time and space.

Akuto emitted from her hands, and oddly enough, pulled back. Something cold warped around her shoulders and knees, on her feet and hands. Another cold splotch spread across her collarbone and chest, a few others on her back and down her thighs. As she felt the cold begin to settle, she broke her concentration and looked to herself in hopes of something respectable.

She was wearing a suit of armor, a metallic cardinal in color and adorned with ruby jewels. Red cloth pants covered her legs, but from the knee down metal armored boots were in place of her bare feet. A red ribbon had weaved through her hair, pulling it up into a ponytail. The whole outfit was rimmed in gold, swirling designs across the breastplate and along the boots.

"I look like a gladiator!" She exclaimed helplessly, looking at herself.

"_You look like an ancient knight_," Dulahan replied, sounding impressed. "_They were protectors of the Old World before the first King went mad._"

"Old world?" She asked uncertainly, finding that she was wearing gauntlets and silky gloves. She sat back down, feeling more than uncomfortable.

"_The Old World was a place of war, of murder. They took Akuto from where they could, killing the worlds they came across_." Dulahan stood up, stretching out in a feline fashion. "_The First King came upon your world, Parallel to this world. He created a barrier to split the worlds, even though it would mean near death for all the people_."

Yumemi cocked her head, standing up as well and mounting on the Akuto guardian. "How do you know this?"

"_I was there_."

He flew into the night sky, the stars shining ceaselessly. Yumemi did not ask anymore on the subject, and Dulahan did not continue.

**OOOOO**

"Are you sure she's coming?" Munto turned to Laguna, who stood stiffly on his left side. Rui stood, docile, on his right.

"She said she was," Laguna replied shakily, looking around.

Munto sighed, leaning on his hand. The celebration was a merry one, the open halls perfect in case Gntarl or Volgooze decided to try and attack. His soldiers were elated to finally let loose for a little while and just eat, just drink, just tell old jokes and laugh like they were new ones. His people looked better by the minute as they celebrated. Music filled the hall, whimsical dancing ruled most of the floor.

Before Munto could think about getting up and making a round of the area, the sound of leathery wings flapping caught his attention. He stood up to look outside, but there was no need. The Akuto Guardian flew upwards by the open wall, shimmering silver. He landed, and the Angel slid from his back gracefully, landing with the clink of metals on the marble floor.

She was adorned in the ancient's knight's design, the armor bright scarlet, and glistening like the stars. Her snow-white hair was pulled into a ponytail on the base of her head, her hair gathering in pools by her feet. More so, her armor was infused with Akuto crystal, something thought to be nonexistent.

She looked stunning, a picture of strength and ferocity.

The angel walked across the marble floor, the Akuto guardian sitting on the open-ended area. Her boots clicked as they hit the ground, making her movements sound that much louder as she stood in front of Munto. The entire room was silent.

Munto stared for a moment. For some reason, his heart was thrumming oddly in his chest. She almost looked like…

_No_, he told himself sternly. _Focus_.

"You're late," he stated in a tone he hoped showed authority.

"_You're early_," she responded in kind. Her voice was mildly muffled by the mask she wore, and if it wasn't for that he could be certain she sounded like Yumemi. Munto wanted to rub his temples and try to figure things out, but there would be no time.

He stood up from his throne and walked down to her, reaching out his hand. "Would you care to dance?" He asked softly. She hesitated for a moment, obviously thinking it over. He would wait, as long as he needed to.

Eventually, she shook her head, great thick white locks of hair catching the movement. He shrugged. "Very well; but we have pressing matters to discuss, you and I." The Angel seemed to wheel backwards in an odd way, dipping her head like a horse as he neared and she backed away. He blinked. What was that about? It almost looked like she was in pain, but that couldn't be. She hadn't been harmed in any of the battles.

Pushing his mild curiosities' out of the way, he turned to talk to the Angel.

**OOOOO**

Yumemi hurt. Not in the way a sword or a bullet would, but her heart ached.

Munto hadn't recognized her. She berated herself for thinking that he might, because he clearly would not be able to with a mask hiding her face and a suit of armor hiding her shape.

He turned to her, speaking aloud. "You've aided us in many battles, and for that, we thank you."

He was handsome, more mature looking since the last time they met. His jaw-line was more pronounced, he was taller; his hair had grown longer, wilder.

Would she look any different to him?

"However," he continued, golden eyes flicking to the side as he cued the musicians to continue playing their music "your presence here has been somewhat troublesome." Yumemi swallowed hard, but there was no way he could see it. "We don't know your true identity, we are unsure of your true intentions-"

"Miss Angel!" Yumemi spun around to look at the person who yelled that, and who they were talking to, only to see the Mage she had rescued days earlier and had invited her approaching her on swift feet. "Hello, Miss Angel," she said bashfully, rubbing the side of her head. "I'm, uh, Laguna, and I wanted to thank you for saving my life like you did." She gestured with her left arm, adding "Oh, and for saving my arm too." Laguna bowed, and Yumemi flailed her hands in embarrassment.

"Excuse me, Miss Angel?" She spun around to see Rui, someone she recognized from Munto's memories. He was even more dashing grown up. "I, too, wanted to thank you for healing my men and women out there." He bowed, stating "You've done me a great service."

Yumemi was more than flustered, and was glad for the mask. Calling her "Angel"? She was no angel, if anything she was about as mortal as a person could get!

A voice, deep and sharp cut through the people gathering around her.

"I am speaking with our guest," Munto stated darkly. "When we are finished, you may send her your regards." Like that, the crowd scattered like mice to the other areas in the room. Munto watched them go with an annoyed expression on his face. "They can bother you later," he teased kindly. "But for now, I must ask again, if you'd like to dance?"

Yumemi felt a blush creeping up her cheeks.

**OOOOO**

She gingerly reached out a hand, but stopped halfway she snapped her attention toward the far wall. He glanced over to where she was looking, but found only his people staring back. There was nothing there. She suddenly turned around and walked back toward her guardian.

"Angel!" Munto called out loudly, and she looked over her shoulder at him. There was no way to go about this gracefully now. "Whose side are you on?"

She seemed to be studying him from halfway across the room, adorned in ruby armor and glowing a gentle blue. "Munto," she said softly "I have _always_ been on _your_ side." Her voice sounded like she was underwater, as if he could hear it all around him. With that, she mounted onto the Akuto guardian that Munto thought was his, and she took flight.

"…always been on my side," he mumbled quietly to himself as she swerved away through the sky.

**OOOOO**

"I was wondering when you'd show up."

A man, with tan skin and russet hair was standing on one of the abandoned pillars of the Magical Kingdom. The markings of Time and Space were scribbled across his skin as he watched the "Angel" approach, riding the Akuto giant.

She cocked her head.

"Don't hide behind that armor," he sneered. "I want to see what you really look like, spirit walker."

The angel hesitated a moment, turning to the Akuto giant. It made the noise of a whale, deep and dulcet, before she started undoing the clips on her armor. Under all the bright red layers was a simple looking dress, and she passed the red plated metal to the guardian.

"And the mask."

She pulled it off her face with some difficulty, before looking up at him with diamond pupiled eyes. Gass blinked a few times, before leaning forward. "Aren't you …the Girl of Destiny?"

In a shaky voice, she replied slowly "I am."

He stared a moment, before rubbing his temples. "How are you a spirit walker, Princess? Those people were destroyed generations ago."

"I-" she took in a gulp of air. "-I don't know. I was brought here, by something." Gass quirked an eyebrow. "And I got hurt-" and for a moment, her eyes lingered over his form, before seeing his left arm, or lack thereof "-and _you_ are hurt!"

Quick as a flash she brought her Akuto giant closer and began probing the muscle above his arm, her tiny fingers warm as she looked over it. Gass backed away out of habit, but she slapped his pulling hand like an annoyed mother and continued to look. He sighed, running his fingers through his hair. She was about as fierce as a flower petal. "Look," he stated tiredly "There's nothing you can do about it-"

And her hands lit up, the whiteness of it like vein work working above his arm like tendrils of warmth through his system. An ache he didn't realize he had was fading, spots behind his eyes blurring away. He looked down as she pulled her hand away, and found his intact left arm. It couldn't conduct any time/space magic, he could feel it, but it was _there_.

"What did you _do_?" He asked aloud, genuinely surprised. "Only the Akuto of the First King could possibly heal me."

She rolled her shoulders uncertainly. "I… I saw what was broken, and fixed it?" She was a girl, this princess of the world below. "Are you feeling better?" She was concerned. Had she even met him before? No, this was their first meeting.

"Yes," he replied, a little more kindly, patting her hands. They were warm, in the way metal sitting in the sun is. "But Princess, how did you get here?"

She shrugged helplessly again, shaking her head. "Someone brought me here, but I don't know who." Her eyes lit up. "Do you think you might know anyone who could've summoned me, Gass?"

He shook his head, only to stop halfway through the first shake. "Waitta minute," he snapped "how do you know my name?"

She stared at him for a moment, like the question was taking an unusually long time to register, and she replied in a soft voice. "Munto. I see his memories, sometimes." Gass felt a pang of pity for the girl. For most of the people on parallel planes, there would be an opposite person who was easily synchronized to. The girl probably didn't know that. The girl probably thought she was crazy.

"Does Munto know you're here?" He asked, stroking his chin with his left hand.

She nodded. "Yes, he does, but he doesn't know it's me."

Gass glanced back to her, saying aloud "What."

She put out her hands in the shape of a sphere, stating "Seer Ryueli says that because most of me is still in the other world, I can create a miniature Akuto cycle here. It won't be big enough to stop the destruction she says is coming, but it might relieve some of the pressure." She put her hands to her chest, muttering "and if Munto knew it was me who was here, he would find a way to send me back at any cost."

Gass stared at her with dark eyes for a moment before agreeing quietly. "Yeah, he would."

They were both silent for a moment, and Gass wondered what the girl was contemplating. It suddenly occurred to him that he didn't even know her name. "Might I ask your name?"

She stuttered for a moment, before answering "Yumemi."

He tested the name aloud. "Yu-me-mi. It's a good name," he commented, and she twiddled her fingers in her fluster. _Geez_, he thought suddenly, _she really is a kid_. "You know, I heard that Gntarl's forces are going to issue surrender tomorrow, and make a peace treaty with the Magical Kingdom."

Her face lit up. "Oh, that's the army fighting Munto, right?" Gass nodded. Her face went from bright to dark instantly. "But wait… This sounds too good to be true."

"You're a quick one," he commented, still leaning against the pillar. "And I'd love to chat, but I have some things to be taking care of, Princess Yumemi." He bid her a goodnight, and while he was soaring away, he heard her yell aloud "Take care of your arms!"

He chuckled under his breath as he returned to Irita on the opposite building.

The curse was still there, crawling under his skin and threatening to break apart his flesh, but if the Girl of Destiny could heal him…

Then maybe there was some hope.

**OOOOO**

Munto chuckled quietly as Rui issued the statement. "Surrendering? Gntarl doesn't surrender; he doesn't _stop_. If anything, this is a trap."

Rui nodded. "But he might be anticipating your suspicions."

Munto followed his General's train of thought. "You're thinking I should leave half of the army here during the surrender, in case they attack at home." Rui nodded, rolling up the paper Gntarl's men had sent. "I agree. And if this has been like any other day of the week," and Munto drummed his fingers lightly against each other "our Angel might be attending this ceremony."

Rui felt a smile tug at the edges of his mouth. "I suspect she will."

"You're excused, Rui. Get some sleep, you look like a walking corpse," Munto chided. His general bowed to him and walked out of the halls, going to his own chambers. Meanwhile, the King rolled the events of the evening over in his head.

"_Munto… I have always been on your side_."

For some peculiar reason, thinking about that put a smile on his face.


	6. Now we Wait

_**Renascence**_

** O**

_Now we Wait_

** O**

Dulahan watched in quiet anxiety as Yumemi girded herself with the armor of old. She was going to watch from afar at the ceremony as Gntarl's forces surrendered. She wanted to be prepared though; Volgooze's forces fought, but they didn't fight so dirty. If Gntarl's forces were cornered, they got nasty, and quick.

Dulahan was not this intelligent by his lonesome. A force had been gently pushing his mind to remember things, and see things, and know things. He was aware of himself, and of touch and sight. He was not before.

"I'm ready," Lady Yumemi chimed to him as she fastened her mask. He nodded, leaning down for her to climb on.

A great sorrow was building in the pit of his stomach.

That force that had pushed his mind let him see, just a little, into the future.

Yumemi laughed a little, as she always did when they were in the air.

He was afraid. He may never hear that laughter again.

**OOOOO**

Munto stood parallel to the line of Gntarl's forces. At the front, the man himself stood like a statue on one of his automated machines that kept him in the air, magic or not.

Munto held back a snarl as Gntarl whispered to one of his men standing beside him, eyeing the King from afar. His army was just a touch larger than the one at Munto's back, and the King already suspected it was because the other half of his army was waiting to attack the Kingdom.

Luckily, he went through with Rui's advice, and half would be guarding the castles when they arrived. Although Munto was not one to gloat, he barely resisted the urge to give a smug grin to the officer across from him. A blue and silver flash distracted him though, one that carried the Angel. He watched at the Akuto guardian - who was once _his_ Akuto guardian – stopped a good hundred foot away and watched. He noticed that the Angel wasn't wearing the striking scarlet armor as she was yesterday.

Behind him, on a small island, Ryueli who had snuck off the grounds to watch the fight in nervous anticipation of something, although she wasn't sure what, and she was fastening on armor a little too small for her. Yumemi had insisted on making her wear it, as she was not a warrior, but a seer.

Munto waved the Angel over, and with a tad hesitation, the Akuto guardian brought her to his side.

"Can you not fly on your own, Angel?" Munto asked in a teasing tone. She rolled her head slightly, and her shoulders bobbed as if she was laughing silently. "I hope you'll stay to watch," the King advised with a smug smirk.

She shook her head. "I shouldn't," the Angel replied "it would be the death of Dulahan to hover in one place for so long." She patted the Akuto guardian's head, who seemed to purr at her.

"Dulahan?" He always wondered what the name was. "I can spell-bind a boulder for you to sit on, so he can watch from the island back there."

The Angel pondered it, but accepted. Dulahan reluctantly retreated to the island, where he sat hunched over Lady Ryueli behind a significant hill. Munto's men wrenched a rock from the earth, and in a moment's notice it was floating well enough for her to sit on.

Munto was pleased for some reason, like it felt right for this Angel to be at his side.

Looking across, he once again wondered what plans Gntarl had.

**OOOOO**

Gntarl had enough of Munto's relentless forces. The stubbornness of his people was getting out of hand, and he found the little Angel who shadowed his forces was just as irritating.

Underneath his robes, long fingers clutched the handle of a sword. The sword was not an ordinary and weak stoned thing, no; it was a sword of energy, which would pierce even the metal of the Akuto guardian. His other blade would not do for this. He squeezed it. When the time came, when Munto would reach out to shake his hand in agreement, the King would die.

The Angel fawning over him would leave afterwards as well, as Munto was the only reason she stuck around. And Munto foolishly thought Gntarl would send out his forces as far as the main gates of the Magical Kingdom. No, Munto had cut his forces in half for nothing, and the other half of Gntarl's own people sat in silence, waiting to be summoned to destroy the weak forces Munto had brought along with him.

Munto and his people would fall.

Then, the girl of destiny would awaken from her slumber, and she would be the key to the future.

**OOOOO**

"Gass," Irita asked in an annoyed tone "we don't usually spy on politics. What's happening?"

The man shook his head, stroking his chin. "Something tells me an event will occur here that will change how the future will be opened," he muttered. "But I don't know how."

**OOOOO**

Ichiko sat quietly by Yumemi's side.

It was the seventh day, and she still wasn't awake. The rose Suzume had given her lay on her chest, in full bloom, but the girl may never see it. The Doctor came in to encourage Ichiko; he stated it may be a day or two more before the trauma in her mind settles and she can wake up.

His words fell on deaf ears as Ichiko held her friend's hand tightly.

**OOOOO**

"Gntarl!" Munto yelled across the span. "You and your people have stated a surrender statement."

"We have," he replied in a voice loud enough to hear, but not loud enough to be constituted as a yell.

Munto snorted. "Then you must agree never to come near the Magical Kingdom territory again, nor your people or your spies. Those who are found will be guilty of treason, and executed."

The Angel gasped quietly, and Munto cringed at the noise.

"Deal," Gntarl responded. He neared Munto on his device, his right hand out to shake hands as an official statement before the people. The written consent would come later. Gntarl looked placid as ever. Could the surrender actually be legitimate?

Just before their hands could clamp onto the others to make the agreement, something flashed under Gntarl's robe. It swung up in the air, and descended upon Munto faster than he realized. A sword, of the Old Age. It sparked with green light, and the energy was hotter than hot to even look at. He closed his eyes in anticipation of a blow, his arms coming up to try and block the hit as his shoulders stiffened, but none came.

He opened his eyes to see the Angel standing in front of him, the sword deep in her shoulder. Gntarl looked just as surprised. The Angel wrenched the sword from Gntarl's hands as bright white energy came from the wound, thicker than blood and far more terrifying to behold. She was rasping as she breathed, shuddering. Her feet swayed as her right hand cupped the wound.

She fell off the floating stone.

Munto couldn't move for a moment. Not until he heard Laguna scream from the ranks "_That bastard killed the Angel!"_

Dulahan whizzed past Munto so fast he almost couldn't follow its movements, and an energy blast fired by the creature knocked Gntarl off of his device. One of Gntarl's men caught him, but he was badly mangled. Munto's army was angry and they were _vengeful_; they would not be denied the chance to tear into the army that so willingly would destroy their savior. "_Attack!_" Munto screamed, louder than any falcon or wolf. His army was a wave of fury that could not be stopped.

**OOOOO**

Gass sped downward, down toward where the Guardian was attempting to catch Yumemi. He found them both, the wind rushing into his face and making it hard to see, but when he tried to grab Yumemi's hand so the Akuto guardian could retrieve her with ease, something shocked along his bones and danced in his skin. It blasted him backwards in a daze, and when he caught himself it wasn't for many minutes until he could think straight.

**OOOOO**

Ichiko stared at her hand. What was that? She was just holding hands with Yumemi.

As she stared at her palm, markings like distorted cogs moved across her skin.

**OOOOO**

Ryueli was glad of the armor, because it took nearly no damage when Gntarl's secret forces attacked. She wasn't a fighter, but that didn't mean she couldn't defend herself.

But if Yumemi was wearing the armor, she wouldn't have been-

**OOOOO**

-hurt, Munto thought. Where was the armor she had been wearing? He found himself at the ground, the graveyard of those who could not fly. It was a desert wasteland, but Munto could see the silver guardian far off in the distance cradling something.

"No," Munto told himself "She is fine, she can survive that." But as he drew closer to the crouching pair, the metallic tang of copper filling his nostrils, he wasn't so sure.

Blood in the air was never a sure sign of anything.

**OOOOO**

"_I'm sorry_," Dulahan whimpered "_I'm sorry_."

"I-It's not your fault," Yumemi stuttered as he stroked the guardian's face. She was hurt. She had never been hurt in this form before, and it felt different from any other sort of pain she had ever experienced. "I t-told you to st-stay behind." She was still holding Gntarl's sword, and she dropped it onto the ground.

"_But I saw it_," Dulahan shuddered "_I saw the future that was ahead of you, but I did nothing to stop it_."

"Good," she whispered. "I think this is the way things are supposed to be right now, and I don't know why." Dulahan gingerly pulled her mask off and set it on the sandy ground as she coughed, shuddering at each movement. "You've been such a dear friend," she trembled, stroking his face delicately. "N-never feel that this is y-your fault. I don't w-want you ever to be sad, ok Dulahan?" He nodded slowly, but a low, mournful noise was his only verbal reply.

"_I don't want you to feel sad either_," he replied quietly.

**OOOOOO**

Munto stared from almost ten feet behind Dulahan.

It couldn't be…

It couldn't _possibly_ be…

He darted around the sad form of the beast and laid his eyes on the face of none other than Yumemi Hikada.

"Yumemi," he breathed, both ecstatic and terrified. She glanced over to him, and a small smile pulled up her petit features.

"Munto," she replied in earnest. All this time, he had suspected but played it off as muddled instincts. He _knew_ it was her in the mirror, at the ball, helping him all this time. Her hand reached out toward him, but before he could stumble over and grab it, she suddenly bent forward and gasped. Her form seemed to be blurring in and out, her arms and legs unraveling like ribbons with blinding flashes of light. It was Reality, pulling her somewhere… but where?

**OOOOO**

Ichiko screamed aloud as the doctors pulled her out; what was wrong with Yumemi? What was wrong with _herself_?

The black markings still danced along her left hand, a power that scared her beyond belief as her friend flat-lined in the next room.

**OOOOO**

A being wrapped in black put a finger up to his lips, white-blonde hair pulled over his shoulders.

"_**Time to go**_," he whispered.

**OOOOO**

"I have to go," Yumemi groaned as time and space was pulling her away. She looked scared as she glanced up at Dulahan, her blue eyes wide, wet with tears and she yelled from the roaring winds that pulled her body to and fro "I'll be back-" and she turned to Munto "-I _promise_!"

And like a candle blowing out, she was simply gone, the only remnant of her passing swirled dirt and a mask. Dulahan sat dejectedly, and Munto never thought he'd hear the beast weep. It was a low sound, but almost shrill, like the killing of a bird and the cries of a bear. It was horrible to listen to, but Munto barely paid any attention as he collapsed over the mask, his fingers tearing through the dirt.

"Yumemi…!"

**OOOOO**

Yumemi was aware of a pair of cold hands on her wrists, through all the chaos of flashing lights and conflicting sensations, and there was a sudden beat in her chest, like someone hitting it with a sledgehammer. She shut her eyes and called out in shock, choking on her own breath as it beat her relentlessly, and she sat up gasping for air trying to stop the horrible slams into her chest-

And she saw a tiled roof, and smelled floor cleaner. She leaned over and coughed violently, and when she looked up it was into the face of stressed doctors in relief of her awaking and her stabilizing condition. Her shoulder ached from the inside, where it was hurt in her spirit-walker form, and her side hurt physically from where she was impaled with glass.

She was home.

Ichiko practically slammed into her as she wept in relief, hugging Yumemi so hard her bones hurt. What was that beating? As her arms enclosed around her dear friend, she recognized it – it was the beating of her heart.

**OOOOO**

Rui had to admit, if it wasn't for the rage Munto's army felt at losing their Angel, they might not have been able to defeat Gntarl's forces.

But they did, and the fury they felt pumped in their veins still. Even as they returned back the home-front, rage boiled in the pit of their stomachs like a parasite.

Rui had never seen Munto so angry.

The King stepped into his chambers and smashed a mirror hanging on the wall, and threw a table at it. Hot angry breathes heaved from him as he ran his hand through his hair, and he turned around screaming "_Ryueli_! I need you here _now_!" Rui knew there was nothing he could say to possibly quench his majesty's fury. So he fetched the lady, and left them alone.

He could only hope for the best.

**OOOOO**

"You knew!" Munto hissed as he swept a few nick-nacks off of his dresser. "You _knew_ it was Yumemi!"

"Yes," she replied calmly, her hands folded across her front. The seer looked like the picture of serenity.

"Why didn't you tell me?!" He hollered, but she didn't flinch. "_Why didn't you tell me?!_" He prowled around the room breaking things like a rabid canine, furious breaths forcing themselves out as he clenched his fists. "All that time she was there, all that time and _you didn't tell me_!" He lifted up his fists to pound his bed to nothing, but stopped just short and collapsed on the cushions with a miserable heave. "…Why didn't you tell me…?" He whispered from the blankets.

Ryueli sighed, looking out his window. "Munto, what if I did tell you? What would you have done?" He was silent, but stray muscles twitched from tension. "You would have sent her back. That's what you would've done. Yumemi didn't want to be sent back." She approached the King slowly, before placing a fragile hand on his shoulder. "Yumemi wanted to help you."

He suddenly jerked upwards, standing up, and she pulled her hand away. "I didn't _need_ her help," he hissed under his breath, his fiery red hair on end like hackles. Ryueli tweaked an eyebrow up, making a dissatisfied face. "She could have gotten killed!"

"That's her choice," she replied coldly. "It's always been Yumemi's choice, and by leaving her in the other realm without any information is to take that decision from her. Have faith in her Munto."

He stood staring out the window.

"Have trust."

**OOOOO**

Yumemi's family was more than ecstatic for her to be awake again, and their love was only rivaled by her hunger after not eating for a week. She was allowed to go home, but not yet to school. She was still too weak for that, and was only permitted two to three hours of walking before she would get lightheaded.

Her brother, Chikara, practically squeezed her so hard the stitches on her side almost popped. Her father was determined to carry her everywhere, and their mother in celebration cooked more than she had in years. Ichiko and Suzume stayed the night the first day back.

"What did I miss at school while I was gone?" she asked weakly, eating another portion of food her mother brought to her bed.

Suzume giggled. "We've been getting copies for you! Not much, thank goodness, but we were all worried!"

Ichiko was sitting on the far side of her bed, legs crossed as she ate a portion of pork Yumemi's mother cooked up. "It was a good thing you woke up when you did, I was about to throttle your Doc." Yumemi laughed breathily. The Magical Kingdom needed help, but she could recognize when she needed rest. And it was good to be with her friends, whom she loved so dearly. Suzume was wearing an adorable pink dress, and Ichiko was wearing shorts and a long brown sweater that went past her hands. That was usually Suzume's style, but Yumemi thought nothing of it.

Ichiko peeked at her hand for a moment. Black markings still danced along her skin. She shivered, before turning back to Yumemi. "It was awful nice of your parents to let us stay the night," she commented.

Yumemi smiled sweetly, brushing her wheat-gold hair out of her face. "They know you were all just as worried as they were." Some color was starting to come back to her pale face. It made the tomboyish teen feel a little better. "I should probably get some sleep though," she yawned.

"You've been asleep for a week!" Suzume giggled, before flomping onto her right side of the bed. Ichiko took her left, and with that the lamp light was switched off.

Ichiko stared at her friend while she slept. Here, she had little facial twitches instead of a deathly stillness. The teen pulled her sleeve back and stared at her hand.

It appeared while she was holding Yumemi's hand… but all the things her wounded friend was talking about wasn't the sort of thing that she could honestly see, right? But it was there, warping along the knuckles of her hand. She sighed and let it drop.

Should she… should she ask Yumemi about it?

She might know something about what was wrong with her hand, maybe. But she didn't want her dear friend having a psychotic relapse.

So she stayed quiet and lapsed into an odd sleep.

**OOOOO**

Gnarl hissed lowly as a healer tried to heal part of his arm back.

He narrowly escaped from those… those… those _heathens_.

The dark one, with rusty looking hair practically _bit_ his shoulder off. Her comrades joined in the fun of trying to beat him to bits, but he lost his newly found energy sword in the fight and couldn't defend himself properly. It wasn't until one of his men finally passed him his double-bladed metal sword that he was able to put up a fight.

But as long as he was alive, the plans would continue. The girl was awake; the angel was dead and nowhere to be seen. The only problem was Munto, but half of his army was mauled by his hidden forces. He should be weakened by this point.

He shook off the healer prying at his shoulder, and stared at the sleeping girls on his screen.

It was just a matter of time now….

**OOOOO**

The man in black sat quietly between space-time, staring at the girl of Destiny. Her spirit was blue, her short haired friend's was green, and her short friend's was yellow. They looked very pretty sleeping on the same bed. He carefully reached through one of the rips of the realm, and it tried to tear his akuto-flesh apart at as he neared the seams. His hand was curled around the silver handle of an odd blade. He dropped it beside the girl's bed, and it landed with a hefty _thunk_.

"_A gift, I suppose_," he muttered. "_Now it's just a matter of time…_"

He receded, leaving a spark of light.

A small boy, no older than ten, stared wide-eyes from his bed. "What did I just see?" Chikara shuddered, and he promptly hid under his blankets.


End file.
